Reba Williams, cook at Malabar Farm, dies at 107

Former Malabar Farm cook Reba Williams, age 106, and her daughter Lavada, 78, talk about her days cooking for Louis Bromfield during an interview in Columbus in 2013.(Photo: Dave Polcyn/News Journal)Buy Photo

MANSFIELD – Reba Williams, Louis Bromfield's cook at Malabar Farm from 1943 to 1957, died Sunday at home in Columbus where she resided with her daughter. She was 107.

Williams was born Jan. 23, 1907, in Germantown, Pennsylvania, to Sherman and Myrtle Lavata Williams. Her family moved to Mount Vernon when she was a child. She never graduated from Mount Vernon High School, even though she completed all 12 years.

In 2013, she received her diploma from Mount Vernon High School at the age of 106.

In a News Journal story in 2013, her daughter, Lavata Williams, said Reba refused to read a book a teacher assigned. The school even asked her to take it home and read it over the summer and said they would give her the diploma if she wrote a report.

"(Reba) said the book was not worth reading and she'd already read it once and didn't like it and wasn't going to read it again," Lavata said. "My grandmother told me the story more than once."

The Columbus resident retained a sharp mind while living with her daughter on Karl Road. Lavata Williams, now 79, grew up on the spacious Lucas farm, living there with her mother. The property is now the state's only working farm and park — Malabar Farm State Park.

The women have fond memories of Malabar Farm and its world-famous owner. Reba said "Mr. B" was "just the same to everybody."

Reba initially worked at Malabar as "the second girl" cleaning and dusting, making beds and serving dinner each night.

When the cook got time off every two weeks, Reba was assigned to do all the cooking from Friday through Monday. Reba advanced on the farm when the regular cook took her usual two days off and didn't return."

"Grandmother's father was a slave, and the owner of the plantation's sister taught him how to read and write and he was very educated," Lavata said.

Lavata said her mother was alert but had stopped eating in recent weeks.

She had been bed-ridden for almost three years. Lavata said her mother always was dependable, a no-nonsense kind of person.

Williams will be buried at Mount View Cemetery in Mount Vernon.

No formal funeral services are planned. Reba was one of five children and is survived by a brother, age 90, and a sister, age 94.

"We'll get together sometime in the future at the grave site and share some stories about her and always something funny," Lavata said.